Plastic loves the pandemic
The Covid-19 pandemic has upended daily life and commerce throughout the world. As one of the millions working from home over the past few weeks, I’ve grown accustomed to having meals delivered to my doorstep. Before that, I rarely used food delivery services; dining out was the norm rather than eating at home. Now I’m starting to see the plastic containers piling up in my home. Feeling guilty about that, I wash them so that I can reuse them. It’s tough to be an eco–conscious consumer these days because more containers will keep coming, but it’s better than doing nothing and just throwing them away after using them once.
The coronavirus lockdown has generated a massive increase in domestic waste everywhere. With tens of millions of people in cities around the world stuck at home for weeks, they have relied on food deliveries and online shopping, which unavoidably results in surging demand for packaging.
Sadder than the immediate increase in plastic consumption is the fact that once people get used to the convenience of food delivery, it could have long-lasting consequences. It could encourage more people to become dependent on online platforms.
At the same time, more restaurants may expand their online business to avoid the risk of any future shutdowns of their dining-in operations. That will mean more disposable plastic containers that are hard to recycle.
Another change we have seen lately is that businesses that once encouraged consumers to bring their own bags or containers have switched back to single-use packaging in the name of safety. In early March, Starbucks announced a temporary ban on reusable cups and many others followed suit.
The sad truth is that garbage sorting is still not mandated in many countries and cities; most consumers just dump plastic containers with other trash in their bins.
A more immediate worry is the rise in medical and hazardous waste from treatment of Covid-19 patients, and the possibility that some of it will not be properly treated and disposed of.
As cases continue to spread exponentially in some countries, hospitals, waste haulers and treatment centres could be overwhelmed by a surge of regulated medical waste such as masks, gloves, booties, bed linens, cups, plates, towels, packaging and disposable medical equipment. While governments suggest everyone wear a mask in public places, their use has added to the piles of medical waste to be disposed of.
Keeping all that garbage safe and contained will continue to be a challenge until the crisis is over. And while the priority for governments is to curb the spread of the virus, they need to also educate people about why it’s their responsibility to sort garbage and why it will benefit them.
On a broader scale, ensuring adequate supplies of medical products is a challenge for every country. Governments have adopted measures to facilitate imports of Covid-related medical products, such as cutting import duties, curbing customs-clearance processes, and streamlining licensing and approvals.
At the same time, though, there is a growing use of export restrictions and other actions that limit trade of key medical supplies and food so that countries can address domestic needs. This raises concerns about supply disruptions on the global stage.
According to the World Trade Organization (WTO), global imports of crucial goods needed in the fight against Covid-19, such as face masks and gloves, hand soap and sanitiser, protective gear, oxygen masks, ventilators and pulse oximeters, amounted to nearly US$300 billion last year.
While WTO rules allow for temporary export restrictions “applied to prevent or relieve critical shortages” in the exporting country, such restrictions can be dangerously counterproductive and severely damage the global economy when taken collectively.
Such measures disrupt supply chains, depress production and misdirect scarce, critical products and workers away from where they are needed most. Other governments counter with their own restrictions. This could prolong and exacerbate the health and economic crisis — with the most serious effects likely on poorer and more vulnerable countries.
Free trade has made cutting-edge medical products available throughout the world at competitive prices and this should be encouraged. To ramp up the production of medical supplies, it is essential to build on existing cross-border production and distribution networks.
While we need to defeat the virus at home, closer cooperation through open trade policies is also critical to fight the pandemic, reinvigorate economic growth and restore jobs. No country cannot survive living alone, can it?